I just recently received the Cowon J3 (16 GB) that I ordered through www.minidisc.com.au. I installed the latest firmware (ver 2.26), then I tested it right away. Wired headphones work perfectly. Then I tried connecting the device to bluetooth headsets. I'm pleased to report the process is very easy and hassle-free. However, I noticed something is terribly wrong with the bluetooth sound quality. The sound breaks very badly, and there's continuous & loud buzzing and hissing noise, also occasional high pitched noise that literally hurt my ears. This happened in a very stable environment with no signal interference.

I have tested 2 bluetooth headsets (Plantronics Backbeat 903+, and Sony DR-BT21G), all of which work great on my Sony player. However, when connected to my Cowon J3, none of them can play the music without literally hurting my ears.

I have wrtitten to www.minidisc.com.au about this issue. Not sure how long they'll take to reply. In the meantime I'm just wondering if anyone ever got the same problem. Is there any setting or function I have missed perhaps?

Hello builder900, thank you for your reply. Minidisc finally responded to our email while Cowon tech support gave us the cold shoulder. Minidisc allowed us to submit DOA and we're just waiting for a replacement now. At one point we actually wondered if it's the firmware upgrade, but alas the item is not with us anymore so there's no way to know until we get a replacement and test it before any upgrade. I will update any progress.

Got a new unit, which sadly still has the same problem. Tried factory reset, upgrades, etc, after each try, my J3 bluetooth still delivers loud buzzes, loud hisses, and the singers sound like they have tuberculosis & on the verge of dying. I gave up, will listen on wired earphones for the time being. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, I'll be happy to try. Thank you.